Compared to shoppers tearing apart a pallet of toilet paper, our facility staff have been Buddhas in scrubs during the recent pandemic. But even they aren’t the most inspiring out of all of this.
Just a box
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 18, 2020
It’s just a box. Not that different from the one that will probably show up on your doorstep or mine today, maybe stuffed with holiday gifts or toilet paper. So why am I feeling a little choked up standing...
Exhale, with love
By
Gary Tetz
Jul 23, 2020
How are those masks working out for you? My glasses are as perpetually fogged as a car windshield after prom, and I do enjoy sounding like Charlie Brown’s teacher.
Courage is contagious
By
Gary Tetz
Apr 02, 2020
Facility staff have no idea if catching COVID-19 will be merely an annoyance or a life-threatening battle, a parking ticket or a death sentence. But still, they go.
Salvation by social media
By
Gary Tetz
Jan 21, 2021
I always thought it was only good for destroying the world, but now I’m here to boldly predict that social media will ultimately save us. After the horrors we’ve been through these past few years...
Moment of truth
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 10, 2020
Now that vaccines really are imminent and long-term care staff and residents look to be first in line, you’re probably holding your breath, desperately longing for an answer to the most important question...
Almost done
By
Gary Tetz
Feb 04, 2021
“Almost done,” the doctor assured me, as she aimed her laser at my right eye. Then over the next 20 minutes, she said it several more times. By then I knew it was all a cruel deception, meant to distract...
Masks change everything
By
Gary Tetz
May 14, 2020
Now that small respiratory droplets created by human speech have been found to hang out in the air for more than eight minutes, requiring masks in long-term care and any other setting where people congregate...
Time to end this handshake insanity
By
Gary Tetz
Apr 16, 2020
To shake someone’s hand is to say, “I don’t know much about you, but I choose to embrace every bad hygienic choice you’ve made today.”
The pain of being human
By
Gary Tetz
Jan 13, 2022
With COVID-19 variants still punching long-term care staff in the face every day, it’s understandable for us to sometimes lose the ability to get our arms around the sheer scope of collective sadness...